A part of the human anatomy which has benefited from the attention of the modern cosmetics industry is the fingernail. Carefully manicured and brightly painted fingernails of great length are a necessary part of the wardrobe of decorations that complete the portrait of femininity, good grooming, and great beauty of the modern woman. Consequently a great deal of time is spent applying nail polish to and admiring long fingernails. The demands of the working world deprive many women of the opportunity to allow their fingernails to grow to great length. The work a day world of chores results in broken nails or stress induced chewed down fingernails.
One solution to this "short nail" problem is the cosmetic decoration referred to as artificial fingernails that either cover the natural nail entirely or form extensions or "tips" as they are sometimes called that are attached to the front or distal end of the fingernail. The attachment of a plastic strip, generally shaped and sized to resemble a fingernail of extended length, to the distal end of the natural fingernail is a known technique and structure for cosmetically extending the length of a natural fingernail. Typically these simulations take the form of sheets or strips, as variously termed, of injection molded plastic material attached by an undersurface using glue, such as ethylcyanoacrylate based glue, to the natural fingernail. They are commercially available in a variety of between six to thirteen widths, corresponding to the width of human fingernails, and possess a curvature such that the underside concave surface of the nailtip in a side to side direction generally matches the upper convex surface of the natural nail to allow a reasonably matching fit therebetween. The tips are available generally by choice in lengths of between 0.3 inches to 1.5 inches and many are curved in a longitudinal direction to simulate the downward curvature of a naturally growing fingernail.
Nail extensions are commonly attached by professional manicurists. Typically a plastic strip in the general form of the human nail is glued to the tip of a natural nail and in that position the strip extends beyond the fingertip by the distance selected. An acrylic coating, which is essentially clear or colorless, is then applied over the upper surface of the strip, much like applying nail polish, and the uncovered portion of the fingernail and the coating is allowed to cure. Gluing a strip on the top surface of the natural nail more often than not leaves a ridge, which must be removed. This is accomplished by filing the ridge down until it disappears or by applying a top coating to cover or hide the ridge or a combination of both techniques with varying result. Thus any ridge lines that appear between the rear edge of the tip and the fingernail upon completion of the procedure above described are filed down to provide an even surface. Additional acrylic coatings are applied as necessary and additional filing or trimming is undertaken as necessary to achieve the attractive natural looking smooth surface. This procedure requires effort, patience and good technique.
Artificial fingernails that serve as extensions to the natural fingernails and the application of those extensions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,748 granted Feb. 15, 1977 to Matranga et. al. and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,526 granted Jan. 23, 1979 also to Matranga et. al. In the former patent Matranga discloses the gluing of the nail extension to the leading or distal edge of the nail and the filling and filing of any ridges. The edge to edge structure appears fragile and appears to require careful alignment. In the latter patent Matranga discloses an extension formed with a stop ridge on the under surface so that the leading edge of the natural fingernail slides into the stop, which contains an adhesive, and a portion of the proximal end of the extension overlaps a portion of the natural fingernail, which leaves a slight ridge. The ridge is then filed down to create a smooth transition between the two surfaces. The creation of and appearance of the ridge and its visual elimination is a complication to the use of existing fingernail tips. Because the overlap type appears easier to install and offers better physical support it is generally preferred in the inventors view.
Some commercially available nailtips of the overlap type of which the Matranga et. al. patent is illustrative deliniate the overlap area by a change in thickness of the plastic strip. In general the distal edge of this overlap area is the same general shape as the distal edge of the nailbed. Thus the thickness of many commercial nailtips is reduced along a curved line to correspond to the edge of the finger with the nail in place. This reduced thickness portion, which extends proximally beyond this curved line, is, typically, in the range of 0.003 inches to 0.016 inches. The distal portion of the fingernail extension is usually in the range of 0.015 inches to 0.030 inches in thickness. Other commercially available nailtips do not have a sharply defined overlap area and are of either fairly uniform thickness or have a gradually taper in which the thickness of the nail tapers from thick, at the distal end, to thin on the overlap area.
Examination of an extended natural fingernail shows that the apparent color of the nail changes as it grows beyond the distal edge of the fingers nail bed. The appearance is of a color change going from clear to milky. Even if the tip is pigmented correctly and looks natural beyond the fingernail itself, in the overlap area, as above described in which a portion of the tip overlaps the natural nail, it is still possible to detect the change in coloring as might be regarded as unnatural. And if a clear artificial nail tip is used, the overlap area looks natural, but the extended area appears too clear; and, hence, may appear unnatural. The distinctions in appearance may in reality be regarded as subtle by some. Nonetheless the person who wears the artificial nails becomes aware of the problem and as a consequence of that notice the problem may grow out of proportion in that persons mind.
An object of the invention, therefor, is to provide an improved more natural appearing artificial fingernail extension of the overlap type. It is a further object to provide a fingernail tip assembly which minimizes the creation of ridges and is thereby more easily installed. It is a still further object of the invention to provide an artificial fingernail that closely duplicates and simulates the coloring change as appears in a natural fingernail between the nail portions overlying the fingers nail bed and that portion which extends beyond the distal portion of the nail bed. A further object of the invention is to provide a new mold structure for achieving more natural looking artificial fingernails by injection molding processes.
The invention is characterized by a fingernail portion simulating strip means of molded polymer material of the type having a size and geometry for attachment to a natural fingernail to simulate at least a portion of an overgrown natural fingernail of a length that extends beyond the tip of the finger supporting the natural fingernail, said strip containing surfaces, including an upper surface and a bottom surface, and front distal and back proximal portions to said surfaces, said distal portion corresponding to and simulating the whitish colored portion of a natural nail that extends beyond the finger cuticle and said proximal portion corresponding to and simulating at least a portion of a natural fingernail that overlies the cuticle, the improvement therein comprising: light diffusing means located only within and covering said front distal portion for diffusing light incident on said front distal portion of the surface of said strip, said light diffusing means including, a plurality of minute depressions within at least the upper surface of said polymer strip for providing a textured roughened surface, to obtain a natural appearing contrast in appearance between the front distal portion and the back proximal strip portion. the finger supporting the natural fingernail, said strip containing a surface, including an upper surface and a bottom surface, and front and back ends, the improvement therein comprising: light diffusing means for diffusing light.
The foregoing objects and advantages of the invention together with the structure characteristic of the invention, which was only briefly summarized in the foregoing passage, becomes more apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, which follows in this specification, taken together with the illustrations thereof presented in the accompanying drawings.